5 Amazing Ways Social Media is Affecting Photography and Film

Social media is one of today's world digital wonders, capturing billions of users and still growing. In 2017, there are an estimated 2.8 billion social media users that log on at least monthly.

Social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest either solely or largely rely on pictures and videos for browsing and interacting with others. Instagram facilitated the slang term Instagram model for attractive people, usually females, who seductively capture their good looks and sex appeal in photos and videos to build generally-insurmountable piles of followers, likes, and comments. Companies use this same strategy toshowcase their portfolios. Social media is unarguably changing photography and film. Here are 5 truly outstanding manners in which social media has and is currently modifying traditional photography and filmmaking.

Marked Drop in Prevalence of Photo Booths

Back in the days of shopping malls, most of them featured photo booths where friends and family members could take pictures with one another for money, then automatically print several prints out at the kiosk. In place of the standard photograph vending machine from the 1980’s, private photographers andopen-air photo booths have largely taken over.

Advertising is Different

Social media photographs often incorporate funny imagery, inappropriate happenings, and other content that has the chance to go viral. Traditional pictures do not incorporate as many viral-capable types of content as today's pictures.

Apps Utilize Short, Brief Content

Snapchat has partnered with a number of media outlets to craft app-specific content characterized by short, minute-long or even shorter clips. Users click through series of short videos rather than traditional forms of watching video: for minutes at a time. Many content creators are opting for short-form content, interactive content, or360 vids, rather than traditionally-filmed, longer-than-today's brief videos.

Social media has shortened many already-short videos due platform creators' acknowledgment of the average person's attention span. In 2000, the average attention span was 12 seconds, dropping down to merely 8 secondsin 2015.

Professional Cameras are Becoming Less Popular

As smartphones continue to be released with cameras of increasing capability and resolution year after year, bulky, traditional cameras are are going the way of the dinosaur. There's really no need for large cameras when most smartphones can provide a similar or identical quality.

Photography Can be Easily Used to Meet and Connect with People

Instagram relies primarily on photos as its choice of digital substance. People take and share pictures with short captions to impress and connect with others. Rather than text-based posts making up the majority of posts, pictures and videos make up nearly the entirety of social media posts.

The advent and proliferation of social media has undoubtedly changed photography and film. Pictures are getting easier to take, media can be used to interact with others, and professional photographers are moving closer to relying on smartphones to capture content. What's next with social media and cinematography? We'd love to hear your thoughts in the comment section!